Family values

Family values – we can often hear this notion in our everyday life but do we really think about its content and significance? What does this notion include? Is there a decline in family values in modern world as the representatives of the older generation often say?
Family values can be defined as a traditional set of social standards, beliefs and morals defined by the family and a history of customs that provide the emotional basis for raising a family. It boils down to the philosophy of how you want to live your family life. Things such as how you view marriage, commitment and childbearing, what role religion plays in your family, how emotionally available you are to others, your beliefs about sharing responsibility, the common interests shared by your spouse and family, shared activities and hobbies, how family time is spent, how family decisions are made, how family traditions are established, and so on are included. Your family values definition consists of ideas passed down from generation to generation, giving children the structure and boundaries in which to function and thrive.
Traditionally people define their values as stating that the family comes first, yet they find themselves with very little time or energy left over for spending time with the family. Unfortunately, as we can see in modern world, money, career, property can become the reason of the loss of the family values and morals at all. We can observe it, for example, through the increasing number of divorces, since marriage became a widespread means of getting money. Fortunately for the wealthy people, such tendency has acquired the retaliatory measure – a marriage settlement. What concerns the constant talks of the older generation about the vanishing of family values, we can find one more obvious reason, grounding their position. The explanation is quit simple: with freedom of speech and of the press after the disintegration of the USSR such things as abortion, pornography, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, cohabitation, etc became visible, things, which always existed, but never were shown and allowed to be spoken about.
In my opinion, family values still play the paramount part in people’s lives, because neither property nor brilliant career make us happy, but close people, children, good relations, mutual understanding, love. And concerning divorces – all we can mistake and have another chance, still it sounds better than live all your life with a person who you can’t withstand, just because the society demands it.